Juniperus OSTEOSPERMA

Juniperus OSTEOSPERMA - Utah juniper, Juniperus osteosperma.

Juniper is a genus of evergreen plants in the Cupressaceae family growing in the Mediterranean, Central Asia, and North America. In nature, the plant is found in mixed pine woodlands, mountain slopes, or pastures. The genus comprises about 70 species growing in the Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic to tropical mountains. The average lifespan reaches 300 years.

These are evergreen coniferous dioecious or monoecious trees up to 10-15 m (32.8-49.2 ft) tall. Conical crowns are characteristic of junipers. Needles are scale-like, acute, and needle-like. Pollination occurs in March-April, and seeds mature in the autumn of the following year.

At 4-5 years of age, the plant begins to bear fruit. The juniper produces scarlet-black berry-like cones, up to 10 mm (0.4 in) in diameter, with a glaucous sheen. Initially, small scales appear at the tips of lateral branches. A year later, they turn into green cones, then into dark fruits with a glaucous bloom. Each contains up to 10 seeds, which are dispersed by birds.

Utah juniper is a densely branched small tree or shrub 3 to 6 m (9.8 to 19.7 ft) tall with gray-green or glaucous foliage. Leaves are scale-like, closely appressed to shoots; needle-like leaves are rarely preserved on young branches. The berry-like cones are large, up to 1.5 cm (0.6 in) in diameter, grayish-green or bluish with a waxy coating, containing a single seed bone inside.

Flowering occurs in spring. Fruits mature in the autumn of the following year. The plant is distinguished by high drought resistance, is adapted to stony, poor soils, and is widely distributed on plateaus and hills of western North America, especially in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.

Seeds are relatively large, about 5-6 mm (0.20-0.24 in), oblong, dark brown, located inside fleshy berry-like cones.

To increase germination, preliminary scarification altering the hard seed coat and enhancing the likelihood of uniform germination is required, followed by prolonged cold stratification. Seeds are carefully slightly filed and placed in a container with a stimulant solution at room temperature for 12-24 hours, or dipped for 30 seconds in hot (80-90 °C (176-194 °F)) water, after which they are stratified. For this, seeds are placed in a moist mixture of sand and peat or rubbed with ash, and kept for 2-3 months at 2-5 °C (36-41 °F) (on the bottom shelf of a refrigerator).

Seeds are sown in containers with loose substrate to a depth of 1-2 cm (0.4-0.8 in), moistened with a spray bottle, placed in a mini-greenhouse or covered with film, and germinated in dim light, not in the sun, at a temperature of 20-27 °C (68-81 °F). Seedlings need ventilation. It is necessary to avoid waterlogging and drying out of the sowings.